The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-545-38720-0

This was a particularly interesting novel. It has been a while since I have seen its movie counterpart, but all in all, from what I remember, and from reading this book, the movie did a particularly good job at adapting the book for the silver screen. 

Initially, I decided to pick up the book from my relative's Amazon cloud drive after reading the first three books in the author's 'Underland Chronicles' series, which, if you look through my review archives, I can (probably with the exception of book one) highly recommend.

The way the story is told is also equally interesting. Rather than just explaining what happens, the book is instead told entirely from the narrative and perspective of the main character, Katniss Everdeen. I felt that this was a nice touch, because not every novel I have read has done this, especially with fiction. Typically, this writing style is only done in the autobiographical/memoir genre, with books such as 'Marley and Me,' so to see it in this novel was a nice "change of pace," so to speak.

Another thing that I would like to point out, is that I am technically reading the trilogy compilation version of this novel. I also read the 'Hitchhiker's Guide' series as one entire volume, and reviewed it the same way as well, however, in that instance I was reading the hardcover version, and given its humorous and complex method of storytelling, it seemed easiest to summarize in one review, whereas since I have seen at least two of the movies in 'The Hunger Games' series, it felt as though it would be cheating to review the trilogy compilation as one volume. Also the ISBNs for the reviews will reflect this as well.

While I was reading the book, I kept the movie in the back of my mind as sort of a "comparative perspective" to look out for anything that might have been omitted from the theatrical release of its movie counterpart. To the best of my knowledge, the only vibe I could get in this respect was that the scene intensity was higher in the book, practically to the point where the night before I started typing this review, the book almost gave me nightmares (yes, I am aware of my age, but Winter depression is hereditary for me). 

Which brings me back to the ultimate question. Would I read this book again? Well, I have an interesting answer: While I would probably consider it, if you're someone like me, I would probably hold off until the spring thaw in April or May (although I may pick up its sequels before then). One thing I noticed in this book that was also in 'The Underland Chronicles' series (same author, by the way) is the slow progression of storytelling during the camping scenes. Despite these flaws, I can say with confidence that my answer is a resounding "Yes."

So, in short, if you haven't read this book, do it. And may the odds be ever in your favor (That phrase is contagious for me!)